Construction crews continue removing trees and excavating the side of Vinegar Hill along Indiana’s Water Street in preparation for rebuilding a leaning retaining wall and the crumbling steps on the hillside.

Dave Fairman, Indiana’s public works director, near the bottom of the steps, inspected the work Thursday. There are various theories on why the prominence overlooking Indiana is called Vinegar Hill. One is that a family long ago made vinegar in a barn on the hill.

Another is that early Irish immigrants to Indiana said it resembles Vinegar Hill in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland.

The hill there was the site of a bloody conflict during the Great Irish Rebellion against England in 1798.